Sensex rallies 402 points on RBI rate cut hopes

Mumbai: Rising for the second straight day, the benchmark BSE Sensex surged 402 points on Monday to close at over two-week high of 27,507.30 on RBI rate cut hopes, better-than-expected corporate earnings and firm Asian cues.

The NSE Nifty too spurted by 133.75 points or 1.63 per cent to settle at one-week high of 8,325.25.

Meanwhile, to assuage concerns of foreign investors slapped with MAT demand, the government today put on hold issuance of fresh notices and any further assessments on levy of this tax on such entities.

"Though it is not certain if China’s latest interest cut could be taken as a positive for Indian markets, it sure did help traders’ sentiments, which were looking for cues to carry on with Friday’s short covering," said Anand James, Co Head Technical Research Desk at Geojit BNP Paribas.

Meanwhile, the government will unveil inflation data based on the consumer price index (CPI) for April and Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data for March tomorrow.

The BSE 30-share Sensex resumed on a positive note and touched an intra-day high of 27,544.24 before settling 401.91 points or 1.48 per cent higher at 27,507.30. Earlier, it had ended at 27,735.02 on April 23.

Of the 30 Sensex stocks, 26 ended with gains.

The index had gained 506.28 points on Friday after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley referred the MAT issue to a high-level 0committee.

The broader 50-issue NSE Nifty regained the 8,300-mark to hit session's high of 8,332.75 and concluded 133.75 points or 1.63 per cent higher at 8,325.25.

On the day, Bank of Baroda's reported a decline in its standalone net profit by 48 per cent to Rs 598.35 crore for the quarter ended March 31.

"Among major market moving events in the economy, Bank of Baroda surged more than 17 per cent intraday on the back of significant improvement in asset quality," said Rakesh Goyal, Senior Vice President at Bonanza Portfolio.

Buying was witnessed across the board as 11 out of 12 BSE sectoral indices closed in the green in the range of 0.90 to 2.52 per cent.